


You're my golden hour

by writworm42



Series: Aftercare fics [7]
Category: RuPaul's Drag Race (US) RPF
Genre: Aftercare, Cuddling & Snuggling, F/F, Fluff, Grounding Touch, affectionate touch, soft beebs are soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-03
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-15 17:01:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29811606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writworm42/pseuds/writworm42
Summary: After a scene, Denali takes care of Rosé, grounding her & caring for her through plenty of touch.
Relationships: Denali Foxx/Rosé
Series: Aftercare fics [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1349389
Comments: 16
Kudos: 49





	You're my golden hour

**Author's Note:**

> A new ship enters the aftercare collection!!! I tried to write a fic with the theme of touch for rosnali like 47832 times, but this is what stuck. Variety is the spice of life, right?
> 
> Title from Golden Hour by Kacey Musgraves (thank you Holtz for helping me w the title <3). Thank you Holtz for beta-ing!!!

Denali squeezes along Rosé’s arm in rhythmical pumps, _one, two, three_ times as she pulls the redhead closer against her chest. She listens to her girlfriend’s breath, waiting until heavy sighs become contented, sated _mm_ s against where Rosé’s face is buried in her neck before relaxing herself, letting out her own sigh of relief. Denali doesn’t let up on her squeezing or on holding Rosé close, though; it’s too early for that, and anyway, she’s in no rush. She likes this, after all. Just laying by her girlfriend’s side, stroking her back and squeezing her arm, enjoying the warmth of her body and the way Rosé practically purrs with contentment at the sensation of Denali’s touch. 

“How’re you feeling, Rosie?” she whispers, bringing the hand that’s pumping along her girlfriend’s arm to her hair, gently running her fingers through it, over the sweat-soaked strands that threaten to become matted if they’re not taken care of soon. And she will take care of them, she promises. First, though…

“‘M’okay,” Rosé stirs, yawning as she grabs Denali’s hand, cues her to repeat her stroking a few more times. She cranes into the movement, and Denali can’t help but feel a rush of affection for her. “Comfy.” 

“Good.” Denali smiles softly, laughing a little to herself when Rosé’s hand doesn’t leave hers even after a few more runs through her hair; typical of Rosie, really, to start touching and then never let go.

God, she wishes she didn’t have to let go, that she didn’t have to pull away or let the moment end. But as unfortunate as it is, this can’t last forever--she has to check the damage and deal with it, before it’s too late. 

“Do we have to?” Rosé’s eyes scrunch closed when Denali stirs, clearly knowing what’s coming, but Denali just clicks her tongue, begins to separate herself despite every inch of her body telling her to stay where she is just a little longer. 

“Sit up, baby, show me your back.” 

Rosé follows Denali’s directions without protest, turning her back to Denali and letting her trace a hand down the marked-up curve of her spine. There are already bruises and scratches blooming under the sweaty sheen of Rosé’s skin, red and raw and screaming for attention, and Denali can’t help but feel a twinge of guilt when she accidentally presses a little too hard over one of the scratches, making Rosé wince. 

“Shit, sorry, you okay?” Denali drops her hands, but Rosé just turns back around and grabs Denali’s hands to put them back around her waist. 

“I’m fine,” she shakes her head, “Just… Don’t leave me right now. Stay.”

Denali’s been fluent in Rosie-isms for over two years now, so she knows what she means, and just presses a little harder, makes her touch a little firmer. A little more grounding. 

“Walk you to the bathroom?” Denali proposes after a minute of silence, during which Rosé has placed her hands over Denali’s own and begun to stroke over her knuckles with her thumb. 

Rosé nods, but doesn’t let go of Denali’s hands as they get up and shuffle off the bed. It’s awkward, and silly, but Denali doesn’t laugh or protest, because they’ve done this before, danced this exact dance to get to the exact same destination enough times. Unlike the first few times Rosé wanted to have her cake and eat it too, their joint-walking doesn’t end with Denali banging a knee into the side of the bed or stubbing a toe against the bathroom doorway. 

No, thankfully, she’s an expert at waddling behind Rosé and pushing her towards the shower, not leaving her side right up until she’s stepping into the stall ahead of her to turn on the water, test its temperature. As she does, Rosé’s arms find their way to wrap around her waist from behind her, and she feels Rosé’s head press gently against her back. It’s nice, comfy, and she decides that maybe she should let the water run just a little more, just to stay where she is a little longer. 

When they finally do step under the water’s stream together, Denali makes quick work of her own rinsing off, swiping shampoo through her hair before letting Rosé scrub her down as she turns her attention to her girlfriend, slowly washing her in turn. She takes her time working Rosé’s sharp, lemon-scented shampoo into a lather, smiling when Rosé hums in pleasure at the feeling of nails scratching against her scalp. Denali tries her best not to get distracted as Rosé uses body-wash as an excuse to touch every inch of her skin - not in a sexual way, but rather, with a tender sort of softness, as if she’s trying to memorize Denali’s body by the feel of it. As if she hasn’t gotten every dip, curve, and crease of Denali deep in her muscle-memory by now. 

“PJs, pizza, and Netflix?” Denali turns off the water when they’re finally done, the hot water having become the kind of lukewarm telling her that the tank is dangerously close to running out and spraying them with ice water instead. 

“Lotion me up first?” Rosé yawns, smirking when Denali rolls her eyes. Rosé knows she doesn’t have to ask. Denali always does it, because even though Rosé could definitely do it herself by this stage of their aftercare routine, they both know that she doesn’t want it that way. She wants Denali to touch her, and honestly? Denali wants to touch her too. 

Denali never used to be this touchy, not really. Sure, she liked touching and being touched, but no more than any other person out there. But that was before Rosé; ever since they’d met, Rosé had never been anything if not tactile, her love language so clearly expressed in touch that Denali began to crave it herself. She grew to need the way Rosé grabs her by the hands when talking to her, traces absent-minded circles over her arm while they laid on the couch watching TV. The way Rosé spoons her to sleep, her arms around her waist always the last thing Denali feels at night and the first thing she wakes up to in the morning. The way that no matter what, as long as Rosé’s hands are on or near her, Denali knows she’s safe and loved. And all of that made her crave opportunities to touch Rosé back and want to give her girlfriend every inch of that affection back through learning every single kind of touch Rosé likes, what makes her sigh and giggle and smile and melt right into Denali’s hands. Now, especially after a scene like this, it’s more important than ever for Denali to let Rosé know she’s here for her, and she doesn’t fight the overwhelming urge to pull Rosé close. Because hey, it’s aftercare for her, too, and she feels best when her girlfriend feels safe and loved. 

They do their same waist-connected waddle back into the bedroom, over to the dresser where they pull out clean, fluffy PJs to replace their towels with before finally jumping back into bed, snuggling up close again. 

“You sure you’re good?” Denali mutters against Rosé’s lips as she pulls her in for one last reassuring kiss, one that Rosé makes so soft and slow and sweet that it’s almost painful to pull away from.

“Promise." Rose flashes a little smile at Denali before leaning in to kiss her again, “I love you, Nali.”

“Love you too, Rosie." Denali whispers against Rosé’s lips, feeling Rosé slide her hand to her back to pull her closer and praying that the other girl won’t let go. 

“Enough that you’ll let me get green peppers on our pizza tonight?”

Denali pulls away, frowning in disgust, but laughs despite herself when Rosé turns out her lip in a puppy-eyed pout.

“Alright, we’ll get it on _half_. Extra cheese on all of it,” she rolls her eyes, laughing again when Rosé expresses her pleasure at the concession by practically jumping on Denali to hug her.

“Deal. And also, let’s watch _The Mask_ tonight? Please?" Rosé turns those puppy-eyes on one more time, but squeezes Denali a little harder, and Denali can’t help but squeeze her back, letting her cheek fall against the top of Rosé’s head. 

“Alright, you fire it up, I’ll order the pizza.” 


End file.
